All That Remains, The Happier Version
by LunaCangiante
Summary: AU, a happier ending to All That Remains because Dragon Age II is too depressing. Rated T for violence


Confound it world Dragon Age II is too depressing. I'm not kidding you keep losing your family, your potential lover goes ape poopoo bananas and all that jazz. I've decided to change some of that and make a happier ending to All That Remains. So without further ado I give you my story, MOVING ON…

Disclaimer: I do not own anything belonging to the Dragon Age franchise, they belong to Bioware, or as I like to call them, the Video Game Ninjas.

Anders had been battling with himself all day. Or rather, with Justice all day ever since Marian Hawke had left the clinic. He told her that if she left her door open, he'd come to her. Though he hoped that she would have her door open that did stop a certain Fade resident from stopping the mage. She was a distraction to his cause to free all mages from the tyranny of the Chantry. Anders knew he would only hurt Marian in the end, but a small portion believed she could save him from himself. He had given Justice a piece of his mind, that he didn't already possess and left without another thought and ignoring Justice's protest as he went.

The walk from Darktown to Hightown had never been so long in his life. He didn't want to seem too eager and take the shortest route from Darktown into the market and so he decided he'd pass through Lowtown and continue from there. Plus, with the way he was going, he didn't have to pass the Chantry. Anders didn't even want to think about that place tonight. No, tonight was about Anders and Marian and he was going to keep it that way.

Or so he thought.

He heard a vaguely familiar voice, one that he'd heard often enough to know he should know it from somewhere, but also unfamiliar enough to bother Anders into seeing who it was. He peeked around the corner, there was Leandra, Marian's mother, attending to a man who was bleeding. Rather badly it seemed. The healer in Anders knew at the rate the man was bleeding, he wouldn't be alive very much longer. Anders was ready to approach the two when something made him stop. It was the smell of magic, a mage was nearby. As Anders came closer and closer, he realized in horror that the man was not injured, he was a blood mage!

Trying to stay as calm as he could Anders approached the couple. "Is something wrong?" He asked casually. The blood mage glared at Anders, but said nothing.

"Oh Anders," cried a joyful Leandra. "Thank the Maker you're here. He said he'd been accosted by some thugs. Is there anything you can do?"

"Of course," his tone stayed cool but inside Anders wanted to let Justice destroy the blood mage. It was their fault that mages were so oppressed. All they wanted was to destroy, and unfortunately they had the power to do so, and it only took a few rotten apples to spoil the whole bunch. He stood closer to the blood mage and felt for the man's injury. If he could close up the wound quickly, he could escort the lady back home. It wasn't like he wasn't going that way.

"Oh good ser," the injured party acted. "Surely there is no need for this. In public too, someone could take you away from your clinic and I know how much those people need you." Anders raised an eyebrow, how did he know about the clinic?

"Now now," Leandra soothed the man. "Anders is the best healer this side of Kirkwall. If anyone can get you feeling better, it would be him." Though he didn't like the circumstances of healing a blood mage, it did feel good to hear that Leandra thought so highly of him. Normally, he wouldn't have cared what his conquest's parents had thought about him. But Leandra, she was different. She could see the good in a mage, like her husband and her daughter Bethany.

"But-"

"Leandra has asked that I help you and I will now stop moving around so much you're making this much harder than it has to be." Anders warned. He vowed to himself that if he ever saw the mage again, he'd tear him apart if he had to do it in the Knight-Commander's office he'd see to it that the mage was no longer a threat to the Hawke family. The mages locked eyes for a moment, almost seemingly having a conversation.

'_Stay away from Leandra,'_ Warned Anders.

'_But she is so pretty, now mage if you do not wish me to harm you, you would do well to leave.'_

Anders grip on the man tightened. _'I'm not going anywhere without her.'_ The man nodded in understanding. He didn't want to, but he was going to have to hurt the healer. He shoved the healer away roughly. "Quentin!" Cried Leandra. But Quentin looked ahead in horror at Anders. Leandra glanced back and forth between the two men. "Anders what's wrong?"

Anders opened his mouth to reply but Quentin was quicker. "He was hurting me Leandra. I could hear the whispering of demons! Maker's Breath I think he was trying to possess me!" Leandra looked puzzled for a moment. Then shot a look at Anders that was a cross between disbelief and a slight fear of the younger mage. Anders shook his head furiously.

"Don't believe him Leandra he's a blood mage," pleaded Anders. "I can smell the magic off him! Leandra come with me!" Leandra stood between the men, debating who she should believe. Anders was a trusted friend of her daughter, and not to mention the man Marian was in love with. But she'd heard rumors of him being ruthless when it came to achieving his goals. He'd kill anyone to see his cause come to fruition. But what would he achieve in harming Quentin?

"Anders," she started to reach for his hand when Quentin threw his hands to his head and howled. He dropped to his knees screaming of demons and how he would resist. "You need to leave now!" Leandra turned her back on Anders and helped Quentin to his feet.

"Leandra-"

"Anders if you do not leave then you'll leave me no choice," her tone was sharp, she really meant it this time. "I'll have templars here so fast you won't have time to run this time." Anders took a step back in shock, did Leandra just threaten to send him to the Circle? They left in a hurry away from Anders, towards the Market District.

He stood there dumbfounded, debating whether or not he should follow them. She had just threatened him and he was trying to save her life. But she hadn't known the difference, and so with a sigh he followed at a distance. Leandra would glance over her shoulder every now and then but Anders would quickly hide himself so she couldn't see him. 'I don't have time for this,' he inwardly complained. He was wasting time he could have been spending with Marian so he could destroy the blood mage, but if he just attacked, he wouldn't be allowed near Marian with a ten foot pole.

They finally stopped at the foundry when, with renewed strength Quentin clasped a hand around Leandra's mouth and dragged her into the foundry. Anders followed in earnest this time, jogging to catch up before Quentin could do any real damage. He threw the door open to the foundry, there was no sign of Quentin or Leandra.

"Damnit," growled Anders. Though he had only turned to it for a short time and it was only because the Warden Commander forced him to learn, it was moments like these Anders still wished he studied blood magic. It certainly would have made his search much easier. His eye suddenly fell to the floor, where a puddle of blood led to a trap door Anders hadn't noticed before. He silently thanked the Maker for the mage missing a large clue as to where he was.

Throwing the trapdoor, Anders felt the familiar constricting claustrophobia setting into his stomach. He squeezed his eyes shut and jumped down. The sooner he came out with Leandra, the sooner he could get to Marian, assuming she didn't try to skin him for taking so long. He followed the trail of blood, until the shades came out. With a raised eyebrow, Anders made quick work of the shades with a string of offensive spells that Marian had insisted he learned. He was silently thanking her for her ability to push.

Finally he passed a living space he could only assume to be Quentin's. A portrait was framed over his bed. He had to double take, almost sure it was Leandra. Until he noticed her eyes were different, as well as other smaller features, with enough study of the portrait Anders saw that it was someone completely different. He noticed a journal on the nightstand next to the bed, skimming through it, Anders gasped loudly. Quentin was reconstructing his deceased wife with living women who had similar features. When Anders glanced back up at the portrait of Quentin's wife, he realized what Quentin needed Leandra for.

Her face.

He took off running, further into the underground cave. He needed to find Leandra before it was too late.

"Marian will come for me," she warned the blood mage. "You'll see! She'll be here for me!"

"Perhaps so my dear," sighed Quentin. "But I fear it'll be too late for you." He bent down enough to stand at eye level with Leandra. "Do know this is nothing personal. But the way I see it, we both win in the end. You'll be with your Malcom and I shall have my wife back."

"You'll never get away with this," she continued. "Marian will-"

"Regardless of what your daughter does, I will have my beloved's face back."

"Let her go," Anders stepped into the chamber. He was relieved to see he had just made it in time. Leandra looked back at Anders like he was her savior. 'Funny,' he thought bitterly. 'She was just about to have me arrested too.' Shaking the thoughts aside, he made his way closer and closer to Quentin.

"You," Quentin cried in a rage. "You don't know what it is to love! She has my wife's face! I could have her back, but I just need her face!"

Anders shook his head sadly. "You're wrong, this will do nothing for your wife. She's passed on, giving her a body that you threw together so flimsily is not going to bring her back." Quentin stopped, his breathing turned heavy and erratic, he wanted desperately to hurt Anders. "Let Leandra go," insisted Anders. "It's time to let your wife go too."

"I PROMISED," shouted Quentin. He threw back Anders with a Telekinetic Burst, Anders yelped as he flew across the room. He landed hard on his side but quickly shook it off. If the mage wanted to play dirty, he was more than happy too. Using the same amount of force, Anders pulled Quentin to where he had landed, with a Pull of the Abyss. Quentin and Anders stood a few feet from each other each preparing a new spell.

Anders reconsidered however, the amount of time it would have taken to cast, he could have been a little more productive. And the more he thought about it, he remembered as a restless teenager he had one advantage. He had escaped the Circle seven times before he was finally freed, and he had learned a thing or two about hand to hand combat from being on the receiving end more than once. Anders struck out with a left hook, it was enough to break Quentin's concentration, and the mana he had been using to build his spell was lost. Anders inwardly congratulated his self. He formulated a plan, if Quentin could waste all his mana on attempting to cast so close to Anders, he could save his own for the opportune moment.

However, Anders did forget in the heat of the battle that Quentin was a blood mage as well, and he was made up of quite a lot of blood.

Anders prepared his self for Quentin's next move as he slashed his own wrist to attack further. Anders found his self standing face to face with three desire demons. Seeing as Anders didn't have any more room for much more possession, he attacked quickly. But desire demons were no easy task, Anders soon found himself losing his own energy fast. He searched for a lyrium potion and downed his last one. Finishing off the two final desire demons, he decided to skip Quentin altogether and try to free Leandra on the off chance he didn't make it out of the fight. Anders had lost enough fights to know that he wasn't the best fighters, his specialty was healing, not fighting.

Reaching to his belt, he grabbed his knife and rushed the chair Leandra was tied to, he began immediately cutting the thick ropes, silently praying that it would be enough for her to get free. "Oh Anders," started Leandra. "I should have listened to you-"

"Don't worry about that now, we're not out of this just yet!" Anders stopped her. Quentin was casting for more demons, Anders sighed, there was no way he'd be able to fight all of them and Quentin. "You need to get out of here Leandra. I should be able to hold them off just long enough for you to make it out of the Foundry. Tell Marian…" He stopped, it only figured that he'd finally forced himself to go to her and now he was going to be totally destroyed. "Tell Marian I'm sorry…. And that I love her. I always have."

Leandra's eyes were as wide as saucers. She was right all, this time she had teased her daughter about the way Anders looked at her, she was right. He was in love with her daughter, and Marian made it no secret how she felt about him. Now he was going to sacrifice his life so that Leandra would live, but what about her daughter's happiness? Was that why Anders was out so late? Was he going to confess his love for her? Finally the last of the ropes snapped free, Leandra was expected to make a run for it while Anders fought for their lives.

"I'll get Marian here as fast as I can," she whispered. Anders nodded, he knew she wouldn't make it in time, but at least he may be able to see her one last time. Quickly Leandra began to flee when Quentin sent one of his demons after her.

"After her but do not damage her face!" Ordered Quentin. The desire demon that chased was quickly sealed in a block of ice as Anders stood out in the open, ready for the next batch of enemies. The next one went to dispose the younger mage, but Anders was ready, he let out a burst of energy to keep the demon from coming too close before letting out the spirit which was clawing to the surface. Justice began attacking and making small work of the demons. As Justice stalked the blood mage, Quentin prepared spell after spell, but nothing seemed to work against the spirit. He called one last attempt with shades and demons, Justice – now running low on mana, seemed to reach somewhere far within himself to draw mana. But Quentin did notice the now paler face of the mage. His eyes, glowing an electric blue color, were forming dark bags under them. Whatever the possessed mage had done to gain more mana, it had hurt him. While Anders was distracted by his weakened state, and the shades ahead of him Quentin lunged forward and stabbed Anders in the back with the knife he had intended to retrieve Leandra's face with.

Ander's cried out in pain, but not so much surprise. He didn't have the mana left in him to heal his self and so he just whipped around and struck Quentin weakly. Quentin laughed and knocked Anders to the ground, Anders didn't catch himself as he fell. "Don't you see what I was trying to do Anders? I was trying to bring the world's greatest powers together and you are trying to stop me? Why?" Anders didn't reply immediately, he focused on the pain and tried to make it go away. Justice insisted they save their energy until they were really going to need it. Quentin kicked him hard enough to hear a sickening crunch as his foot connected with Anders chest. Anders soon found it difficult to breath with a broken rib. "I love my wife. More than anything else in the world, and so I was willing to kill a few women who had everything that belonged to my wife. Her hands, her voice, and I had her face until you meddled in my affairs. Now I have to recapture her."

"Oh I don't think you'll need to look very far," Leandra's voice was a lot closer than Anders would have liked. Both men glanced up to see Leandra, chair in hand and she whacked Quentin in the head.

'All Hawke women are crazy,' Anders came to the conclusion as he watched wide-eyed at the spectacle. Anders ripped the knife that was still in his back out and lunged for Quentin, he embedded the knife in the blood mages neck. And stabbed repeatedly, the familiar sticky warmth of blood grazed his lips and his tongue shot out immediately to taste it. The coppery taste slid down his throat and when Leandra wasn't looking, he swiped with his finger and tasted it once more. The pain now intensifying with each movement and the blood draining faster he tried, unsuccessfully to steady his self. His knees buckled under him and he collapsed. "I thought you were getting Hawke?"

"I couldn't just leave you here," chided Leandra. As she tried to help him to his feet. "How do I tell my daughter I did nothing to save the man she loves?"

"She does," asked Anders. He happily accepted this bit of news as his vision began swimming. He felt like he was going to fall over any second. The edge of his vision became a little fuzzy and he began to close his eyes.

"Anders you must stay awake," ordered Leandra. "Come on, open your eyes!" Anders was becoming less and less responsive, his body grew heavier and heavier, Leandra was just barely able to keep him upright, though she had no idea how she was going to move him. Soon however, she was lucky enough to hear her daughter's voice along with her dwarven friend Varric.

"Calm down Hawke," he tried to soothe her. "Your mother's going to be fine!"

"Marian?" Called Leandra. The sound of heavy boots running in their direction almost made Leandra jump for joy if she wasn't holding up the now unconscious mage.

"Mother!" Marian quickly came into view. "Mother are you alright? What happened?" She finally noticed the mage bleeding rapidly and supported by Leandra. "Anders?!"

"He's hurt Marian but I can't move him," Leandra explained. "He saved my life!"

Marian was afraid to touch him, he looked rather battered and she didn't want to risk causing further injury. But she began to wonder, was that why he never showed up? She was so angry at him, if it hadn't been for Gamlen storming into their manor looking for Leandra, she probably would never have come out of her room. "Oh Anders." Marian trailed off. The large Guard Captain Aveline took Anders from Leandra.

"Hawke we need to get him out of here now," instructed Aveline. "He may not make it if we dawdle here any longer." They immediately set off for the manor, though Marian wondered if it would be too far away. Leandra followed, trying her best to give the whole story, though the trauma made her recollection a little fuzzy.

By the time they had made it back to the manor, Anders' already labored breathing intensified. He could barely breathe by the time they had gotten him upstairs into Marian's bed chamber. Marian barker out orders for bandages and poultices for the battered mage. When they had finished, he still hadn't regained consciousness, but he was at least stable. Or that was what Marian would have expected Anders would have made of the situation. She stayed up all night with him, a few times he seemed to struggle in a nightmare, but he'd settle back restfully and take as deep of a breath as he could in his condition.

Leandra didn't sleep either, she kept considering what might have happened if Anders didn't show up. She would have been killed, forced to live as a shambling corpse for a mad man. She also felt nothing but guilt, if she had just believed Anders in the first place and went with him like he pleaded, this wouldn't have happened. They would have just went on and pretended like the night was any other.

The next morning, Anders had felt like he'd been run over by six bronto and a deer for good measure. He did notice the change in his usual sleeping place, which was a stiff cot to a luxurious bed, did he thank Lorene for this? He opened his eyes to realize he wasn't in his usual sleeping area, rather he was in a rather nice bedroom. Like the bedroom inside a noble's house.

Who just so happened to be Marian Hawke.

"You're awake," Marian breathed a sigh of relief to see he was still alive. "I was beginning to worry."

"How did I get here?"

"We had to carry you back when you lost conscious. Do you remember anything about last night?" Anders nodded, he remembered Quentin and Leandra. He also remembered his original intentions that evening.

"I'm sorry Marian," he whispered. He wanted desperately to be with her last night, somehow it just seemed more inviting to be in her bed rather than in a hidden cave getting stabbed by a blood mage.

"You saved my mother's life Anders," she stroked his hair. The feeling nearly enough to sooth him back to sleep. "I'm sorry I wasn't there with you." He reached his hand up to cup her cheek, her head fell against his hand. He opened his mouth to say something when a voice cleared her throat at the door. They both looked to see Leandra standing in the doorway, she looked almost shy to break in on an intimate moment between the two. "Come in mother."

She stepped inside the room and sat opposite of Marian on the bed. "I wanted to thank you Anders. You saved my life last night. If it hadn't been for you I-." She couldn't bring herself to say the words. She'd be dead, she'd be an abomination waiting for release. If Anders hadn't saved her, she would have been forced into torment for Maker only knows how long.

"There's no need to thank me," he insisted. "If it were Marian she would have done the same thing."

Leandra smirked, "then what a perfect match." Marian had excused herself to retrieve another poultice for Anders to drink to help his healing process speed up. "You have my approval young man." Anders tilted his head to the side. "To court my daughter, I am not going to be like my parents and become bitter at her loving and apostate. I certainly would be the last person to judge." She chuckled. "Now stay in bed and rest until you've healed. I want you to feel like this place is a second home. But now I must go and see the Guard Captain, she's been after a report from me for some time."

As Anders drank down another poultice and layed back in bed, he came to the conclusion that Marian's bed was, indeed, a much nicer place to be than in the Foundry.

(A/N: So what did you think about that ending? Good? Bad? I feel like it's lacking… But I can't figure it out. Oh well you know the drill. Read, Review, and Remember: I love you)


End file.
